Nature’s Gift

Temple construction provided an unexpected gift from nature in the form of a deep well of water in the centre of the Ashram. Swami Sivananda talks about the timeliness of this discovery.

Last year an engineer studied our whole Ashram water system. We wanted to understand two things: How to increase our capacity to slow down wildfires and the implications of our irrigation system operating off our domestic water supply, which comes from Kootenay Lake. The engineer verified we have sufficient supply for domestic purposes and confirmed that the addition of irrigation can become problematic.

In this context, as we were drilling wells for geothermal heating of the Temple, the crew came upon a lot of water. The drillers – Wild West Drilling of nearby Creston – know full well the value of a high producing well so they alerted us.

It’s a surprise and definitely a good development. The water is excellent quality and initial tests show it will likely at least double our current water capacity. It added about $20,000 to our expenses but in light of the engineer’s report it’s a good investment. We’re starting to develop the well with a temporary fire hydrant, and will work out next steps over the winter.

Mandala House and The Barn both have geothermal heating and we’ve never found water like this before. It’s like a gift from the Temple.